<p>I love Duke and everything it has to offer, but i live in California, and UCLA would cost half the price. Can any of you help me decide if Duke is worth the extra 25k a year? What makes the experience worth the cost? Thanks in advance</p>
<p>i think if you were getting a full ride or if it was UCB things would be different... but in your case, i think duke is worth the money... sorry for not giving any details, but i'm sure someone will</p>
<p>This is unanswerable without more information. Would the 25K per year put you into a lot of debt? Are your parents rich?</p>
<p>One needs to know how tough it is for you or your family to come up with 25K in order to give you a good answer.</p>
<p>If it's pretty tough, quite tough, or you'll go fully into debt, go to UCLA. If you have siblings who will need to be educated and it's tough, go to UCLA. If it's just a tad tough and you've got no siblings, go to Duke. But of course, your parents should be part of those discussions.</p>
<p>Look, people should weigh in here and tell you what they loved about Duke. Apparently it's got a great campus. Everyone knows it's a great school. For you, it's a great school and it's across the country: it's a good experience to go across the country to school. It'll broaden your horizons and make you a better person. But UCLA is nothing to sneeze at and is a great education; if you end up at UCLA, you'll just have to work harder to make it the experience that Duke might be. Go abroad or something; challenge yourself.</p>
<p>We have a similar question; Duke full cost vs. UCB ( or UCSB honors, or UC Davis...close to home) full cost ( no loans we hope). It would have been harder if D had gotten in to UCLA, because she sorta wanted to go there and she does NOT want to go to UCB, so maybe it's a nonissue, but we would feel better....One thing we told ourselves is that you are more likely to graduate in 4 years from Duke which might shift the savings a bit. UC's aren't as cheap as some State U's, so the savings isn't quite as dramatic either. We also like that she gets to try a different part of the country and a different kind of diversity.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, I'm actually considering Berkeley as well. I got the Alumni Leadership Scholarship there, but I went to Blue Devil Days in California, and the attention I received from Duke faculty was astounding. Money isn't the biggest issue for me, but saving 100k would be nice. If I know I am going to grad school, will my undergrad location really matter?</p>
<p>To Shrinkrap,</p>
<p>I'm probably going to choose Berkeley over Duke, and if I do I plan on taking summer classes at the JC. I've already got it worked out, 6 classes (3 over the internet), fully transferable. That will put me a full year ahead if I choose, though some of the individual colleges within the UC universities have unit limits. This way if I want I can graduate a year early, or if not will be able to take far more upper division courses, and far more courses just for pleasure.</p>
<p>Remember that private universities may guarantee graduation in 4 years, but public can often be done quicker!</p>
<p>Why would you want to be finished with college quicker...seriously....</p>
<p>I think tcmzuek is responding to my comment about cost if it takes longer to graduate. Thanks tcmzuek! This is almost a moot point for us now as my D REALLY wants Duke.</p>
<p>I think spending the fourth year on campus doing things like activities or research opens the door for more opportunities down the road.</p>
<p>Does undergraduate location really matter in the long run?</p>
<p>presidentchris,</p>
<p>If you know you are going to grad school and want to save 100,000 for it, I don't blame you for choosing Berkeley, which is an excellent university.</p>
<p>But yes the attention you will receive will be much less. It's going to be a trade-off one way or another</p>
<p>I’m having the same problem too! (UCLA or Duke)</p>
<p>Duke:
+I live in CA, so the change in scenery would be nice
more flexibility for majors
great guidance for med school
great name
great opportunities for research</p>
<p>-$$$$$$$
do we really need this school if we want to move onto med school, etc.? does it help?
far from home</p>
<p>UCLA:
+not as expensive, esp. for CA residents
LA city
a great school, esp. engineering
close to home</p>
<p>-hard to change majors
big classes
hard to get into classes, esp. GE (graduate in time?)</p>
<p>I got into Duke and UCLA. I would love to go to Duke but it cost so much. Also, on the Princeton Review, its quality of life rating was 75. UCLA’s quality of life rating was 95. When I visited Duke for BDDs, many of the Duke students were studying a lot. Would this be the reason for low quality of life? If anyone could respond that would be great.</p>
<p>I went on Blue Devil Days and I met these two people - a couple - who were stressed out about this HUGE project they were working on. Yet they STILL took time out of their 2am meeting to tell us about how great Duke was. (This was NOT part of Blue Devil Days. I was wandering around at night savoring my visit there.) I’m sure everyone loves the college they go though.</p>
<p>I honestly think its an obvious choice, seeing how Duke is an elite university. But cost was a big wrench in my decisions, I understand that.</p>
<p>Reason why I chose Duke
- It’s really amazing/top class in what I wanted to do: BioMed Engineering. Its pretty much amazing for undergrad education, period. Check the “Undergrad Teachings Rankings” in U.S News if you don’t believe me.</p>
<p>2) I VISITED. Duke was just…better than Hogwarts…unbelievably amazing buildings, students, and KICKASS faulty.</p>
<p>3) Diversity: UCLA is 50% Asian. I’m sorry, I’m not racist or anything, but I prefer a diverse community.
I’m not really attracted to a majority portion of Asian girls so =/ UCLA just seemed bland…
Duke just seemed to integrate more minorities in its experience. It integrated black students PERFECTLY and I really appreciate that.</p>
<p>4) Prestige factor: Duke is as prestigious as Ivy Leagues…a lot of people still believe MIT, Duke, and Stanford are Ivies (which I LOL at, but they might as well be in the Ivy league).</p>
<p>5) Area: Honestly, I’d be the same as my cousins and the hundreds of people from California who end up at a UC.
I mean virtually EVERY Californian high school sends people to UCB and UCLA. But only a handful get into Duke.
Duke is a RARE opportunity. Would I really want to miss that? I mean…UCLA is always…there…a lot of my cousins go there and almost everyone ends up there.
Don’t you want to be different? Don’t you want to take risks and try something unique and emerge out as a broad minded person?
I was the first of our family/community to have been accepted to an Ivy Leveled elite university. I didn’t want to pass the opportunity.</p>
<p>Essentially, Duke had many PRO’s, but the only Con was the cost…and location, but I prefer suburbs anyway.
I’m probably going with student loans. I’m fairly confident I can pay it off with a solid Duke undergrad education.</p>
<p>People from NC get into Duke easily. The acceptance percentages are not different. Steady 15% for Duke’s to 20% for Berkeley doesn’t look any different. From west coast, not many people even know of Duke or Emory or those southern universities. Prestige? Berkeley’s prestige far exceeds Duke’s nationally and internationally. From California, not many people apply to Duke at all. They apply to the Ivys and UCs, not the lousy southern Universities. Why would someone want to go to Duke when there’s ivy league at same cost? Get it right, kid.</p>
<p>^Trollll
Are you sore that you got rejected hard by Duke? :[ I think you deserved it with that attitude.</p>
<p>FWIW, I am under the impression that California has the second highest number of students at Duke.</p>
<p>iIgot into duke a year ago but i only applied in the first place because i got a fee waiver.
I got into many other ivy leagues, chose berkeley due to full aid. Even if i didn’t get any aid, i would go to berk over duke. But compared to ivy, i would go to ivy.
so chill the eff out. duke is indeed a safety for californians, and you know that</p>
<p>“duke is indeed a safety for Californians, and you know that”</p>
<p>Wow! I did not! Maybe for folks who are eligible for fee waivers and full aid? Perhaps you will be kind enough to define safety.</p>